29th September

Falcons rather than aquila's today and 6 Gull-billed Tern seen in the bay again. Scopoli's Shearwater once again feeding on shoals of small fish and as its a Sunday local pleasure fishermen chasing the fish in their small boats !! A small group of grey heron also along the rocky area of coastline.

28th September

Highlights today.... Red-footed Falcon female, Golden Eagle, Black kite, Booted Eagle and some Steppe Buzzard in with the Common Buzzard. All these birds were seen almost at the same time and quite high. Also a feeding frenzy of Scopoli's shearwater into a shoal of small fish that were being pursued by even larger fish

26th September

Not too much about again today, with the winds in the NW we thought we would get some raptors , but apart from an early morning Booted eagle and Sparrowhawk there was nothing else. ! It was also a quiet day on Antikythira so we cannot expect anything tomorrow, but who knows !

25th September

With the wind settled from W-NW we had hoped for some raptors moving through, no such luck ! it was also a very quiet day for small birds. Our first Scops Owls appeared this evening we heard one last week but a few could now be heard in the hills , soon they will come close with their "tyuh Tyuh " call, sometimes annoying relatives staying with us when they are metres away from their room ! Me , I love them............

Sue took off to the local beach to get some plant pictures and left myself to scan the empty skies. All that was to be seen was several small groups of Griffon Vulture heading to and from Deliana / Polyrinia area.

23rd september

The Long-legged Buzzard was again seen near the house where it was holding up into the wind, it stayed around until about 1330 then disappeared. In the late afternoon we had an Eleonora's falcon trying to catch a kestrel there were a good few minutes of aerial combat before the kestrel managed to dive into our neighbours small fenced sheep pen, one lucky kestrel !!!!

22nd September

We found Claes and son Patrik from Sweden birding nearby and invited them to come to the house , where we had fantastic views of a Long-legged Buzzard that stayed around all day only disappearing as darkness fell, hopefully we will see it again tomorrow.

As the wind was coming in from the east we were not in for a great migrant day like yesterday, however we were rewarded with a pale morph Booted Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, Eleonora's Falcon and several Griffon Vultures. Earlier in the day a group of 32 Little Rgret flew along the bay , with other groups on the north coast, 45 at Moronis and over 200 at Georgopouli.

21st September

What a day this turned out to be !! after a few fairly quiet days we managed a total of 42 species today with only four seen away from the house , a superb male Grey Plover in summer plumage, Little Ringed Plover , Common Sandpiper and Kingfisher, these we spotted when we wandered to the beach area below the house. Here we also met up with Nikos who came to spend the day with us, and did he bring some birds with him.

Out of the 38 species seen from the balcony 10 were raptor species. A really good enjoyable day. Whilst sat on the balcony eating goat stew and homemade bread, we were interrupted by our first Sparrowhawk of the season and seconds later by the second Peregrine Falcon. My new lucky "Birds of Greece" T shirt from Nikos will be worn on all outings....Thanks Nikos a great day !!

20th September

Frustrating is birding !! the only morning this week that we have not been along our local beach and a visiting birder gets a Grey Plover along there !!!! At least it was seen and recorded and Oddbjorn from Norway has added another species to his Crete list. Nice find............

Our highlights were 3 Marsh Harrier and a Woodchat shrike that stayed around for most of the day with Blue Rock Thrush chasing each other along the slopes above the house.

19th September

Species were a bit thin on the ground today at Kaliviani. we had good views of several Grey Heron flocks as they flew low into the bay and circled near to the port of Kissamos gaining height then disappearing south west with the wind taking them off fast on their journey. The first group carried a Little Egret along with them !!

18th September

Highlight of the day , 6 Gull-billed Tern flying around Kissamos Bay in the kaliviani / Viglia area. Another new species for us on Crete and from home too. Our Crete species stands at 236 and home species now at 152 .

17th September

Nothing much around today but we spotted our first peregrine falcon for the season, perched on the rocks above the house. An unidentified bird again and no camera to hand looked like a red-backed shrike in size and shape but with a straight bill similar to an olivaceous warbler, it did not stay around long and a pic was missed !! A small warbler has given us a headache , it is the cantillans V communis problem rearing its head again in the autumn but we now think its a communis, someone is bound to tell us different ! pic below and on Facebook. From the front it does not look like a whitethroat to me !!!

14th September

Todays highlight , see our resident Bonelli's Eagles again as the adult pair flew high over the house this morning. Little Egret and grey heron on migration and a large unknown tern seen near the herons that we could not get a good look at.

Georgioupoli Lake now has a single ferruginous duck, a few shoveller and garganey, at least one common snipe, grey heron, female marsh harrier, and the pygmy cormorant. Water level finally drained off a little.

12th September

We arrived back on Crete on the 10th onboard the ferry from Gythio to Kissamos and chose to spend the night in the camper on the Kaliviani beach road. We had hardly stopped when we heard a Barn Owl really close, a nice greeting.

We set off up to the house at 0700 on the 11th a lot to do but we kept a lookout for birds throughout the day.

Its good to be back ! We found that the water to our bird drinking stations was turned off so there has been no water on site, this was rectified straight away and we hope some birds will return or migrants drop in, also sheep had been grazing to keep the weeds down but they have overfed and the area has lost a lot of low cover and is a dust bowl !!! some rain is needed now to get things looking good again.

11th ......Temps in the mid 30sC it was very sticky with the humidity. After a long hot summer everything is looking very tired and dried out, the ground is dusty and there is not much green to be seen, however birds were about and we spotted Blue Rock Thrush f....Common Buzzard....Sardinian Warbler.... Stonechat.... Griffon Vulture 4....Blackbird....Italian Sparrow....Goldfinch....Hooded Crow.... Kestrel.... Crested Lark.... Collared Dove, we heard the Barn Owl again in the evening.

We now have a camera trap and that has been set up tonight in the hope of capturing images of some of the mammals and maybe bats and Owls.

A new moth for us very similar markings to the Heliothela ophideresana we found on the 6th March but its not the same. Thanks to agis Paliouras for the species name.

Four-spotted ....Tyta luctuosa ( Nocctuidae )

If any visiting birders would like to contribute trip reports they will be gratefully received and credited accordingly and added to the "Trip Report" section.

11th September

Again Nikos gets lucky when he calls in at Moronis and has a fleeting glimpse of 39 Gull-billed Tern before they are disturbed and beat a hasty exit. Any pics Nikos ?

Once again thank you Nikos

Image by and copyright Nikos Samaritakis

Gull-billed Tern.... Gelochelidon nilotica

9th September

Nikos found a Citrine Wagtail.... at Agyia hopefully he will send us a photo ;-)

Thanks very much Nikos !

Image by and copyright Nikos Samaritakis

Citrine Wagtail....Motacilla citreola

8th September

Some images and report from Alan

Red-backed shrikes are seen more frequently now, but today was our first immature (1st winter?), at Drapanos Head. In the garden, warblers

All images by and copyright Alan Hargrave

Red-backed Shrike....Lanius collurio

Subalpine Warbler....Sylvia cantillans

7th September

Some images and report from Alan

A day out to Anopolis (Sfakia) produced a good variety of birds, though nothing unusual. A flock of 80+ bee-eaters were very noisy high above us, but difficult to pick out, despite their numbers. On the ground, six Hoopoe....three Jay... two Black-eared Wheatear, a few Northern....three Red-backed Shrike.... two Whitethroat..... two Willow Warbler, and glimpses only of a Lesser Grey Shrike. Plenty of Griffon Vulture around this area as usual. Most birds too distant for good images, so just a Kestrel - an immature/female? Back at home, many Barn Swallow descended on our overhead cables with just one Red-rumped Swallow amongst them.

All images by and copyright Alan Hargrave

Kestrel...Falco tinnunculus

Red-rumped Swallow.... Cecropis daurica

6th September

Some images and report from Alan

A successful trip to Agyia with UK birder, who managed three new lifetime birds while we were there. Initially, a distant Purple Heron, which landed on a tree on the far side of the reservoir, but was subsequently viewed more closely, as it flew around with a couple of Grey Herons. Scanning the distant hills we found three Griffon Vulture circling. Then the "show" started proper, when an Eleanoras' Falcon was eventually joined by six more - all hunting on the far side, but occasionally one was above us. Not a lot else to mention - Mallard, Mute Swan, probable Wood Sandpiper, Little Egret, Black-winged Stilt, and the usual residents.